HOMILY FOR FEAST OF ST THOMAS THE APOSTLE. (2)

HOMILY FOR FEAST OF ST THOMAS THE APOSTLE.

THEME: DO NOT BE AN ‘UNBELIEVING CHRISTIAN’!

BY: Benedict Agbo (Rev Fr)

* Eph 2: 19 – 22, Jn 20: 24 – 29.

Many of us are still unbelievers seated right inside the Church. There are always ‘Thomases’ and ‘Judases’ among every 12 disciples. We seem to have more Sceptics and Agnostics in the Church than Philosophers, Theologians and Scientists. The approach of the 1st class of people mentioned above to whatever they do not understand is *to doubt and discard it immediately*. But the approach of the 2nd class of people is *to make more inquiries*. If Thomas did not leave the realm of doubt to the realm of faith, we would not be celebrating him today as a Saint. Make no mistake about this : Christianity is not a social oriented Religion but a faith based experience. Christianity begins with faith, grows with discipline and matures with love. Christianity begins from a total break with our old ancestral foundations of idolatry to a total surrender to the lordship of Jesus Christ. It cannot grow without a fervent devotion to the Word of God through the enabling power of the Holy Spirit.

RELATED: HOMILY FOR MONDAY OF 13TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME.

3 vital instructions must be obeyed ;
*(i) You must be born again* ; Christ said it emphatically that ‘Unless you are born again of water and the Spirit, you will not inherit the kingdom of God’, Jn 3 : 5. We must be initiated into the Christian fold built upon the foundation of the Apostles with Christ as the cornerstone. Then you can gradually grow, as today’s 1st reading says ‘into a holy dwelling place of God in the Spirit’.
*(ii) You must remain in fellowship* ; The scriptures warn : ‘Do not absent yourself from the fellowship of your brethren’, Heb 10 : 25. The problem of Thomas as recorded in today’s gospel began from the fact that ‘Thomas was not with them when Jesus came’. One of the greatest problems of modern day Christians is the problem of backsliding from fellowship or always coming late. It makes us not in tune and at the same spiritual wavelength with the rest of the Church members.
*(iii) You must live by faith not by sight* ; The problem of backsliding from fellowship is that it also keeps us at a lower quotient of faith experience. Thomas refused to believe what others already accepted. He wanted to see and touch Christ’s wounded sides. *That was the scientific method retarding the theological method*. Revelation transcends reason and sight. Faith does not depend upon what we think or see but upon what God has revealed in the Scriptures. Believers must live by faith and not by sight, 2 Cor 5 : 7. Well, thank God Thomas did not end at that level otherwise it would have been tragic. He went beyond the physics to the metaphysical. He went beyond the wounded hands and sides of Jesus to see the divinity of Christ and exclaimed : ‘My Lord and my God!’. Spiritual things are not empirical. The Bible says that ‘For the unspiritual, the things of the Spirit are mere folly. He cannot recognize them because their value can be assessed only in the realm of the Spirit’, 1 Cor 2 : 14. We can also do better because his grace working in us can enable us to do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine, Eph 3 : 20. May God bless you today!

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